Thanks for your comment, its a great illustration of the commonly held opinions that things like The Belly Project are trying to change. The first point I would make is that health is much more complicated than “fat people have diabetes.” Therefore its impossible to make any assumptions about this belly dancer’s health as people of all sizes can be perfectly healthy or have the health problems you listed due to genetics or their diet or a myriad of other factors. Its just not possible to know how healthy someone is just by looking at them, and more than that, one’s health is very personal and not really anyone else’s business (I wouldn’t want someone telling me off every time I decided not to go to the gym or ate an extra piece of candy – we’re all human).

The second thing I would ask is, why should she have to attain a certain size before she can be “an absolute stunner”? The people suffering from eating disorders you mentioned are often victims of this very same thinking – that they can achieve some magical weight where they are perfect. This is obviously untrue. What is really important is that we support women at any size in feeling they are worth much more than their weight. This belly dancer is an absolute stunner because she is happy and doing what she loves, and that is more than enough.

With this thinking it is much easier to love and care for the body that you’ve been given in whatever way works for you.

]]>By: Erikahttp://www.about-face.org/lets-see-those-tummies-stretch-marks-scars-fat-rolls-and-all/#comment-221500
Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:18:18 +0000http://www.about-face.org/?p=15628#comment-221500Belly dancing may be something that celebrates big bellies, but please don’t tell me that the woman on the picture is beautiful or healthy. Her fact is pretty, her skin is smooth and her hair is gorgeous, but her body carries a huge excess of fat and garbage (because with this kind of shape, the intestines are full of, well, sorry, but crap that does not come out), she is likely to be borderline diabetic and having a higher than most chance for heart attack. She may well be fitter than most her size due to her dancing, but this is by nobody’s definition healthy or beautiful. 7

And please, do not say “well it is more beautiful than an anorexic teen with bones sticking out”, because that is just the other end of the scale (quite literally). This woman is not ugly, but with some weight loss, she would be an absolute stunner, and, once again, HEALTHIER. Fat is not healthy. This amount definitely isn’t.

]]>By: andrea laudatehttp://www.about-face.org/lets-see-those-tummies-stretch-marks-scars-fat-rolls-and-all/#comment-219252
Fri, 15 Nov 2013 22:26:56 +0000http://www.about-face.org/?p=15628#comment-219252I like your project about bellies— I have scars from operations and the birth of my daughter and never show my belly.
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